Browsing: Olympics

Wednesday night, NBC’s “Rock Center” will air a feature piece on Rulon Gardner, the 2000 Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling gold medalist whose post-gold medal escapades have come straight out of the “News of the Weird” archives: A 2002 bout with frostbite that cost him a toe, a 2004 motorcycle wreck, a mixed-martial-arts bout in Japan against a 1992 Olympic judo gold medalist (Gardner won), a 2007 plane crash, and an appearance on the NBC weight-loss reality show “The Biggest Loser.” In its online teaser, NBC reports that as of February, Gardner needed to lose 45 pounds to make weight at the…

The 2012 Summer Olympics don’t start until late July, but qualifying events for Team USA have been going on practically since the cauldron in Beijing went dark four years ago. At least one of the soldiers who made the trip to China in 2008 will head to London later this year — Army Sgt. 1st Class Daryl Szarenski will compete in his fourth Olympics after winning the air pistol trials. Szarenski won the 10-meter air pistol event at the 2011 Pan American Games last October and took second in the 50-meter event. He finished 14th in the 50-meter in Beijing. Army…

Not the hardest of hardcore sports fans? Saw the Orange Bowl score cross the bottom of the screen this morning and wondered out loud, “Say, Clemson’s 3-point shooters must be terrible”? Don’t want to be caught off-guard in the new year? Here are five important military sports dates to circle on your brand-new desk calendar. 1. Jan. 14, rivalry renewal: The first Army-Navy game of the new year takes place on the hardwood, with the women’s hoops teams squaring off at noon in Annapolis, followed by the men’s teams at 2:30 p.m. (both games on CBS Sports Network). Patriot League…

Capt. James Bales is an Air Force officer, an orthopedic surgeon, a star triathlete and is training to compete in the 2012 Olympics. Makes you feel like a doughy dullard, doesn’t it? But wait, there’s more: The Air Force brass named Bales of Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., as the service’s top male athlete of 2010. And while the rest of us were dealing with frigid temperatures, the doc was in San Diego last month to accept the award at the annual Air Force Sports Directors Conference. Now Bales, on staff at the Air Force Academy, is training for the…

The New York National Guard’s newest soldier is bringing a bit of gold to the Army. Olympic gold medalist Justin Olsen enlisted during a ceremony Jan. 9 – and then flew to Europe to resume the World Cup bobsled season. Olsen, a private first class, will train as a human resources specialist. He also plans to apply for the Army World Class Athlete Program, which allows soldiers to juggle their military commitment with training and competitions. “I hope to be selected and, as a soldier-athlete, I hope that I can give back as much to the program as they are…